Until You Awaken
by Durbe the Barian
Summary: Kaito is in a coma while he recovers from the Moon Incident. And among the many visitors he receives, one stands out.


**Zexal Oneshot**

**Until You Awaken**

**Romance**

**Kaito/Rio**

**Kaito is in a coma while he recovers from the Moon Incident. And among the many visitors he receives, one stands out.**

**(Don't own Zexal. Just own the story. BE HAPPY!)**

* * *

Until You Awaken

* * *

When the Barians returned to Earth after the defeat of Don Thousand, nobody had the will to believe it. Their friends had returned. The first thing they could do was smile, followed by great hugs all around.

But what surprised them even more was when the Numeron Dragon and his two allies, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon, flew down to Earth, an old friend in the safety of his golden wings.

A friend they had thought for certain would never return to them.

Because they thought him to be dead.

Thought. But there he was, wrapped in Numeron Dragon's wings, his skin as pale as a sheet.

Kaito.

The duelist of the Photon Dragon.

The dragons had brought him back to them all.

* * *

The hospital machines beeped rhythmically as Kaito slept on the bed. Well, 'slept' might be a strong word. 'Comatose' would be more appropriate.

"**Until his strength returns to him**," Numeron said, "**he shall remain asleep. It is the only way for him to regain the health that he lost in this battle.**"

So he slept.

But he did not sleep without visitors.

Almost every chance allowed, his friends and family would come and 'fill him in' on the day's events. Usually, it involved who dueled whom that day, but other than that, they usually just jabbered on and on for hours. One on occasion, Gauche had gone on for nearly ten hours straight about how great the kids were back in Spartan City.

And he still had the ability to speak after that one.

Yuma was no different. He went on for longer about his coolest duel with Shark since they returned from fighting Don Thousand. Trust me, Kaito would have been very happy to realize that he couldn't hear a word that guy was saying.

The Barians, such as Misael and Ryoga, remained unusually silent. They had chosen to simply sit down in the chair and just stare at him for an hour. Then they'd walk out, return the week after, and go through the whole routine all over again.

Haruto was always either silent or bubbly. His hands were always wrapped around Kaito's own and he would smile, relief coursing through his being at the thought of his brother soon waking up and talking to him again. To see his brother's bright eyes and soft smile. To see his brother alive and well again. He could wish for nothing more than that.

Dr. Faker was the same. While he would not hold his son's hand, due to the fact that he felt that Kaito would not want it, he would remain close to him.

They visited him every day during his time of slumber.

As did one more.

* * *

Rio had often come to his hospital room during that time. She wouldn't speak, but she did spend time with him. And oftentimes, she would take his hand into her own, waiting patiently for his awakening. He didn't awaken, not when she was there, but before she left, she always made it habit to kiss his forehead. He didn't know how she felt about him. Nobody knew. She had kept it to herself that entire time. Even before remembering her time as a Barian.

After hearing of Kaito's loss, Rio had almost collapsed into tears. She refused to believe her ears, and she hated herself for not telling him how she felt. Then when she learned that he would eventually wake up, she told herself that she would no longer keep her feelings bottled up.

But she wouldn't let them spill out, either.

So one day, before she left the hospital room, she left him a letter by his bedside.

For him to read as soon as he woke up.

"Until you wake up, I'll be waiting."

* * *

A week after that, Kaito woke up to the morning sun. Nobody had realized it yet, and his strength was still nonexistent at best, but his stubbornness beat all and he forced himself to turn to his bedside table.

There it was. The letter that Rio had written for him.

Fortunately for him, the letter was not sealed. He was able to open it with no trouble.

And so, he read.

~~~~X~~~~

_Kaito_

_I wanted to tell you this to your face, but your sleep prevented me from doing so. And even if you were awake, I doubt I'd get the courage to say it. _

_Kaito...from the first day I met you, I've always thought you were amazing. You didn't care about what happened to you, so long as your little brother was safe. I admired that. I wish I had the strength to do what you did. I wanted to protect my brother...but I could hardly protect myself. Durbe had to help me and I still messed up._

_I thought for sure I was dead after that duel. But here I am, alive and well. _

_But you weren't. You were gone. For a while, but you were still gone. _

_Kaito...why did you go to the moon like that? Didn't you know you wouldn't be coming back down on your own? That you probably wouldn't be coming back at all? I know you did. You're too smart to have not thought about it. Well, let me tell you, for someone so smart, that was a stupid idea._

_You have people down here waiting for you, Kaito. Were you really going to leave them behind. Dr. Faker, Haruto..._

_Me?_

_Were you really just going to leave us all behind while you played just one last duel? You're just lucky Numeron Dragon pulled you back down. Had he not, we all would have gone to the Barian World if it meant getting you back. _

_Don't ever do something like that again, Kaito. _

_I don't want to lose you twice. It was painful enough the first time._

~~~~X~~~~

The letter ended there, with no signature, but Kaito knew who wrote it. Frankly, if she wanted to hide her identity, she should have cut out the, 'I wanted to protect my brother,' part. Really gave her away.

With a chuckle, Kaito set the letter on his nightstand again. He was going to have to remember to thank her for it when he got out of the hospital.

Even if her brother didn't like it in the least.

* * *

**D.T.B: Romancy enough? It felt kind of OOC for Rio to just blurt it out to him in a letter, so sorry. No big confession there. Please review. :)**


End file.
